On February 25th, his Worship Naheed Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary issued an official Letter of Recognition accusing Armenian military forces for surrounding and brutal massacre of citizens of Khojaly, Nagorno Karabagh. Decades after the events of February 1992, official Baku has been obstinately fanning anti-Armenian hysteria with the aim of falsifying the events and discrediting the Armenian people in the eyes of the international community.

The history of our Armenian brothers and sisters, the brave citizens of Karabagh are well renowned. Under Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost and perestroika, Karabagh sought freedom and independence from Soviet Azerbaijan. Glasnost OR “openness” granted limited freedom to Soviet citizens to express grievances about the Soviet system and its leaders. Capitalizing on this new policy from Moscow, the leaders of the Regional Soviet Karabagh decided to vote in favor of unifying the autonomous region with Armenia on February 20, 1988. In response, a full-scale war was launched against the Armenians living in the Nagorno Karabagh region.

People Who Live In Glass Houses Should Not Throw Stones

Twenty-four years ago, on February 27-29, 1988 horrific atrocities, murders and pogroms were committed against 18.000 Armenians in the city of Sumgait, situated 26 kilometers away from Baku. It was a barbaric response by Azerbaijan to the legitimate and peaceful decision adopted by the Deputies of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region Council at the session held on February 20, 1988. The decision was followed by the submission of the petitions to the Supreme Councils of the USSR, Azerbaijan and Armenia with the request to transfer the NKAO from Azerbaijan to Armenia. The bloodbath in Sumgait was followed by the massacres of Armenians in Kirovabad, Baku, Khanlar, Shamkhor…, ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population on the territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh and in Nagorno-Karabakh proper.

From the letter of the Academician Andrei Sakharov addressed to M. Gorbachev, August 1988:

“If before Sumgait anyone was in doubt whether Nagorno-Karabakh should belong to Azerbaijan, after this tragedy no one has a moral right to insist that it should.” (published in “Nezavisimaya gazeta”, 27.10.1992).

As stated by Ilias Ismailov: “Those responsible for instigating pogroms (in Sumgait), now sit in the Milli Majlis [Azerbaijani Parliament] with the parliament mandates in their pockets.” (“Zerkalo”, 21.02.2003). Ilias Ismailov knew what he was talking about – in 1988 he was the Prosecutor General of the Azerbaijani SSR.

The anti-Armenian hysteria around the Khojaly events is incited by Azerbaijan with the purpose to deny the right of self-determination to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and to avoid responsibility for the deliberate policy of killings and ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population.

It is not about whether the events in Khojaly were a tragedy or not; it’s about what really happened there, and who is responsible for that tragedy.

1992 … The aggression of Azerbaijan against the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh is in full swing, half of the Republic’s territory is under occupation, and remaining parts of Karabakh, including the capital – Stepanakert, are exposed to a daily shelling from Azerbaijan’s firing positions. Village of Khojaly was one of those positions, located close to the only airport in this area, capable to link Karabakh with the outside world. The capture of Khojaly was the only way to break the blockade and escape from the artillery fire, cold and hunger forced by the Baku authorities with the sole purpose of eliminating the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Azeri authorities as well as the population of the village were informed in advance about the imminent attack. They were also informed about the humanitarian corridor which was established to ensure an unobstructed exit of the population in the direction of Aghdamm, which was under control of the armed forces of Azerbaijan. Because of the counteraction of the Azerbaijani authorities, some residents were not able to use the corridor before the operation; however those who left after the beginning of the Khojaly operation, managed to get through the humanitarian corridor to the territory controlled by Azerbaijan. It was there, away from Khojaly and on the outskirts to Aghdam that civilians were shot and killed.

“…the Armenians had nevertheless left a corridor, through which the people could escape. Therefore, why did they have to open fire? Especially in the area around Aghdam, where at that time there was sufficient force to get out and help the people.” (Ayaz Mutalibov, First President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”, 02.04.1992)

“Four days before the events of Khojaly. On February 22, there took place a session of the National Security Council with the participation of the President, Prime Minister, Head of the KGB and others, during which it was decided not to evacuate people from Khojaly. Thus, we ourselves pressed the Armenians to attack. The members of the Security Council knew that the Armenians would not carry out actions akin to genocide.” (Ramiz Fataliev, Chair of the Committee Investigating the Events of Khojaly, http://www.azadliq.org/content/article/1818751.html)

“Khojaly residents themselves insist that they did use the corridor and that the Armenian soldiers, on the other side of the corridor, did not open fire. Some soldiers of the Azerbaijani Popular Front evacuated part of the Khojaly residents in the direction of the village of Nakhijevanik – I have no idea why, since at the time it was under control of the Armenian Askeran Battalion. Others were caught in artillery fire in the area around Aghdam.” (Eynulla Fatullayev, Azerbaijani Journalist, the newspaper “Realny Azerbaijan”, April 2005)

Evidences of the kind provided by the representatives of Azerbaijan and other countries are sufficient to conclude that the residents of Khojaly became victims of Baku’s intrigues and currently are being used for propaganda purposes. It is no coincidence that the Azerbaijani journalist Chengiz Mustafayev was killed in 1992 under “obscure” circumstances. He visited twice the site where the bodies of the people from Khojaly had been found. During his second visit he discovered that the bodies had been stripped naked and scalped. He showed the captured footage to the Czech journalist Dana Mazalova in March of 1992. (see: http://www.golosarmenii.am/ru/19958/world/2203/)

Nothing can justify the attempts to exploit tragedies for propaganda purposes, especially when it’s done by the side which holds full responsibility for that tragedy.

Azerbaijan has started its traditional anti-Armenian campaign related to the 1992 events in
the settlement of Khojalu – a village in the territory of Nagorno Karabakh, which, in 1988-
1990, was intensively populated by the Azerbaijani SSR authorities, in particular, with
Meskhetian Turks from the Fergana valley of Uzbekistan. The official propaganda does
not disdain to use any means to put the blame for the tragedy on the Armenian side and
inject a new portion of hatred towards Armenians into the conscious of the international
community and in the opinions of its own people.

During the current election in Canada a newspaper published one of his articles in which he essentially argues that Muslim youth become radicalized because they’re “alienated” by Canadian society — Islam itself is not to blame in any way.